ad advertised as single, and, if needs be, pitiless.
Everything was harsh, the nose, the lips, the voice, the lines about the
mouth. It was the face of one who communed much with himself, unused to
seeking counsel from the world; the face of one who wrestled oft of
nights with angels, and rose to face the day with shut lips that no man
might know. He was narrow but deep; and Fortune, his own humanity broad
and shallow, could make nothing of him. Did Uri sing when merry and sigh
when sad, he could have understood; but as it was, the cryptic features
were undecipherable; he could not measure the soul they concealed.

"Lend a hand, Mister Man," Uri ordered when the cups had been emptied.
"We've got to fix up for visitors."

Fortune purred his name for the other's benefit, and assisted
understandingly. The bunk was built against a side and end of the cabin.
It was a rude affair, the bottom being composed of drift-wood logs
overlaid with moss. At the foot the rough ends of these timbers
projected in an uneven row. From the side next the wall Uri ripped back
the moss and removed three of the logs. The jagged ends he sawed off and
replaced so that the projecting row remained unbroken. Fortune carried
in sacks of flour from the cache and piled them on the floor beneath the
aperture. On these Uri laid a pair of long sea-bags, and over all spread
several thicknesses of moss and blankets. Upon this Fortune could lie,
with the sleeping furs stretching over him from one side of the bunk to
the other, and all men could look upon it and declare it empty.

In the weeks which followed, several domiciliary visits were paid, not a
shack or tent in Nome escaping, but Fortune lay in his cranny
undisturbed. In fact, little attention was given to Uri Bram's cabin;
for it was the last place under the sun to expect to find the murderer of
John Randolph. Except during such interruptions, Fortune lolled about
the cabin, playing long games of solitaire and smoking endless
cigarettes. Though his volatile nature loved geniality and play of words
and laughter, he quickly accommodated himself to Uri's taciturnity.
Beyond the actions and plans of his pursuers, the state of the trails,
and the price of dogs, they never talked; and these things were only
discussed at rare intervals and briefly. But Fortune fell to working out
a system, and hour after hour, and day after day, he shuffled and dealt,
shuffled and dealt, noted the combinations